Integration using local elements. Housing in Portocolom by Missió 21 Arquitectes

Project description by Missió 21 Arquitectes

The project is located in the old town of Portocolom named "Sa Capella". It is a residential nucleus built around the parish of Mare de Déu del Carme.

The urban fabric consists of orthogonal streets with elongated plots. The buildings located on the first line of the coast also have a space adjacent to the main building for the storage of boats and fishing tools. These simple constructions executed with sandstone or brick vaults and called "barraques" or "escars" become the access by sea to these houses, establishing an environment and an authentic landscape characterizing the place.

The site is located in Plaça Sant Jaume and is characterized by a façade of only 2.85 m, later widening to 3.20 m. The total length of the plot is 18.00m.


Housing in Portocolom by Missió 21 Arquitectes. Photograph by José Hevia.

Being located in a public square and in a very crowded area, it was decided to create an acoustic and thermal mattress at the same time. Executed with load-bearing walls of 20 cm sandstone and an 8 cm thick sandstone barrel vault, this volume becomes the "escar" or "barrack" for access to the house. This space provides privacy to the house, creating an interior-exterior transition space, which allows the access door to be kept open, thus taking advantage of the cross ventilation provided by the local sea breeze called "embat".

The landscape integration in such a peculiar environment is achieved by using marés stone (local stone used in the construction of the church and many other local constructions) as the main element of the façade and with the design of the enclosing fence similar to that of the "barracks".


Housing in Portocolom by Missió 21 Arquitectes. Photograph by José Hevia.

The use of local and local construction materials and systems is chosen. The materials used are produced at a vague mileage around the housing situation, thus reducing the carbon footprint. The works have been carried out by local companies and from the same population.

The structure is made with load-bearing walls made of 14 cm thick thermoclay and with unidirectional slabs of prestressed concrete joists supplied and manufactured in the same municipality. The entrevigados are made with curved ceramic vaults fired with biomass. Both the joist and the vault are exposed, providing warmth and sincerity to the construction. It is decided to leave the load-bearing walls visible in some areas, the same material and texture of the brick being the one that dresses and characterizes the space.


Housing in Portocolom by Missió 21 Arquitectes. Photograph by José Hevia.

The space between the new perimeter load-bearing walls and the party walls of the neighboring buildings is insulated with recycled cotton panels. These same insulating panels are also used between the two sheets of the facades. Facades finished on the outside with "marés" sandstone creating an envelope with great mass but with the smallest carbon footprint. This material was chosen because it is one of the industrialized local materials with the least CO₂ footprint and, at the same time, because it is the most characteristic material of the island's traditional construction.

Regarding the rest of the materials, it is decided to use materials without costumes. Bare corrugated rods are used for the execution of interior and exterior railings, which become elements of pure design after a simple exercise in geometry and their combination.